The XFiles: The Crescent Moon
by Sticksara
Summary: In the Spring of 1995, A murder in Southern California grabs the attention of Agent Mulder. A victim with a unusual birthmark is linked to other victims from the 60's & 70's, but what's more unusual is Mulder believes the murderer has the same birthmark. What links the victim and the murderer to a horrible crime during the Civil War? And are there others connected as well?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated or connected with the creator, writers, producers of The X-Files. This is a Fan Story and I am making no profit from it in any way.

**PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION- This story contains elements of violence and contains references to murder, rape and serial killing. I in no way condone or encourage these events, as they are a work of fiction. Any similarity to events or people, whether living or dead, is purely coincidental. This is strictly for mature readers. **

**Prologue**

Sunday, April 23, 1995  
Santa Ana California 10:24 PM.

A small diner on the outskirts of town. Inside is very quiet, but normal at this time of night. Normally you would see many people during the day, but at this time of night there is only about a dozen, just people eating a little snack or a dinner before they have to go home. The talk around the different tables are of complaints of waking up on Monday for the start of their week, to the date a girl had with some guy the night before, to getting kids to their dentist appointment on time, or what was on the local news tonight.

Even with the light crowd, a man sitting alone at the end of the counter wouldn't take notice, which is how he prefers it. A man in his 50's, he's just sits picking away at his Chicken sandwich, mulling over his thoughts. The waitress Janet, who's just working comfortably, glad of the calm night, walks up to the man.

"Any more coffee Phil?" she asks.

The man casually lifts his head with a kind grin, "No thanks Janet" he says.

As he returns to his sandwich, so does his thoughts... His failed marriage, loneliness, passing thoughts of sadness, and of a regret of something he can't remember. All he can remember was it all started with a dre...

"Hi" said a unfamiliar voice suddenly. The man was startled when he turned to see a young woman sitting beside him. She was very young, almost a teenager, small shorts, loose t-shirt, pretty eyes and the most beautiful red hair he's seen on a woman in a long time. He was taken a gasped by her, thinking she mistook him for someone else.

"I'm sorry, I... I think you got the wrong guy" he said politely.

"It's okay" she said, "I was just hoping you can help me with something."

He stared at her again, just as confused. "With what?" he asked.

She gave him a cute smile. "A ride" she said.

10:46 PM.

The front door opened inside of the mans house, one light already left on. The man laughing with the young woman wrapped around him, wanting to kiss him. He closed & locked the door before turning towards her for more. She threw her arms around him, almost climbing on him as he held her close. She then let herself off of him while giggling "Where's the bathroom?" she asked.

"Right thru the bedroom, you can't miss it" he replied with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows, "ooh" she said as she grabbed her backpack and walked ahead of him.

As he follows her, he passes his collection of Civil War memorabilia, telling himself that he needs to return to his ex wife's house to collect the rest he left behind. But for now, he has something else in his mind.

As she entered the bathroom, he stands in front of his dresser mirror, taking off his shirt. He stares at himself in the mirror, thinking to himself just what kind of lucky son of a gun he is right now. He takes a towel from atop the dresser as he tries to clean himself off. He then reaches for some cologne to put around, while he's looking himself over to make sure that he's ready.

Well doing so, he takes a glance at his right arm to glance at his Crescent Moon-like birthmark. It's an unusual shape, with a reminder that it was part of his sadness over the years. But he scoffed it off, thinking of the good time he's about to have.

As he's finishing up, he sees the light turn off in the bathroom and hears the girl walking up behind him. As he smiles and turns towards her, he suddenly feels sharp pain into his neck. He wants to scream but he makes no sound. The pain gets worse as an object is pulled from his throat. Suddley another sharp pain strikes him across his chest, then another, then another. He falls to the ground holding his arms up where he sees the girl attacking him with a knife, though it is hard to see because of the darkness around him. He tries to hold her back, but she's so strong and he's week from his pain. The girl continues to attack him with the knife over and over, even as he turns aside trying to escape. The last few moments he has are of the repeated pain of a knife being plunged into his body, all the while he asks himself "Why?", which was the last thoughts he had while taking his last breath.

The light in the bathroom turns on as the girl stands in front of the mirror over the sink. She's covered in blood over her face, arms and clothing, yet is very calm, like nothing happened. As she turns on the water, she removes her shirt then reaches for a bath towel to begin cleaning herself off. After washing her face, she begins wiping off the blood from around her. Then, as she's glancing at herself in the mirror, she can't help but scratch her birthmark above her left breast. An odd Crescent Moon-shaped birthmark staring back at her in the mirror. It's something she's hated for awhile now, a reminder of a pain that'll never go away.

**Chapter 1**

Monday, April 24, 1995  
Santa Ana, California 7:03AM

Agent Scully had been driving for several hours, trying to hold back a yawn while not thinking of the phone call that awoke her before sunrise. A road map still unfolded on the seat next to her, she still had to glance it over to find out where she was going this early in the morning. It wasn't long before she saw a crowd gathered outside of a small home surrounded by police.

As she comes to a stop outside the yellow tape, she steps out of the car to look around. Although she's frustrated for having driven for hours, she still demonstrates a level of professionalism as she reaches into the car to grab her coat. Although in the back of her mind she wanted to kill her partner, she knows there has to be a reason he asked her to be here, otherwise she'd be on the first flight back to Washington. While still not trying to yawn in front of anyone, she notices a tall, dark brown haired man walking towards her, wearing a FBI badge on his belt.

"Hello I'm Agent Chad Bailes, LA branch, you from Washington?" he asks.

"Yes, I'm Agent Dana Scully" she replies as she shows her ID.

"Well, I just received word that your partner just arrived at John Wayne Airport awhile ago" he says. "My people are bringing him in, should be here anytime now. Right this way please."

As he directs the officers to move the yellow tape, he guides Scully towards the house.

"Have you been told more about the situation?" He asks.

"Actually I know nothing about this case" replies Scully. "I was in San Diego at a forensics conference when I was called up early this morning to come here. I'll need to be briefed."

Agent Bailes takes a quick glance at Scully, thoughts of how to begin to describe what took place inside the house. "Well, just to prepare you, it's looks like a massacre in there" he says. "Victim's name was Philip Carson, age 51, Caucasian, divorced, no children lives alone. Multiple stab wounds, both front and back torso. Some defensive wounds on both hands and arms, one fatal wound on his throat. The coroner left with the body about two hours ago, but the local CSU team photographed, tagged and preserved the crime scene for when you arrived."

The agent escorted Scully through the house, as she's looking around she notices many civil war memorabilia spread throughout parts of the house, but that wasn't why she was there. "Last night around 11:45" he said, "one of the neighbors who was about to walk his dog saw what looked like a young girl leaving Mr. Carson's home. They says it wasn't like him to bring anyone home with him. The neighbor couldn't give a description because it was dark, but she looked like she was in a hurry."

When they reached the bedroom, Scully couldn't hide her disturbed look. "Oh my God" she said.

Blood was scattered throughout the room. Walls, mirrors, floor, furniture, and a trail leading towards the bathroom. On the floor was a taped outline of where a body use to lay, the floor rug soaked in blood. Scully had to take a moment to realize what she was walking into. Her thoughts were then centered on one person... "Mulder, what the hell did you get me into this time?" she thought to herself.

"The neighbor decided to check on Mr. Carson" he continued, "but there was no answer at the door. And when he looked into the windows, he saw Mr. Carson laying on the floor of his bedroom, that's when he called police."

"They weren't able to resuscitate him?" asked Scully.

"By the time the paramedics arrived, they say that he had already been dead for at least an hour" said Bailes. "Almost like he was killed just after he got home and his killer took her time leaving when the neighbor saw her. "

Agent Bailes began to motion towards the restroom, where blood covered towels were thrown in the sink. "It looks like the killer tried to clean herself up before she left" he said. "Which would explain the time between the murder and the time she left."

Scully was kneeled down annualizing the area where the body was, then glanced up to look around... "It looks like most of the blood splatter originated from this area." she said, "Meaning the killer was swinging their arm wildly while thrusting the knife into the victim over & over again". She then stood up still looking around. "Whoever did this sure didn't want to hold back. How many stap wounds were on the body?"

Agent Bailes was quick to answer, "The coroner stopped at 18 before he noticed some markings you people were looking for" he said.

A confused frown grew on Scully's face, "What markings?" she asked.

"Well," he said, "it's some kind of tattoo on the right arm. The coroner noticed it, said to contact your Agent Mulder. Said it was part of a ongoing investigation. He made a call to us, he confirmed it, said we can move the body and process the scene for when you arrived."

"The thing is Agent Scully" said Bailes, "I wasn't aware of any ongoing investigation in this area."

"I wasn't aware of any investigation either" said Scully. "Just how exactly did your coroner hear about this?"

"Because I sent a memo to all coroners offices in this area two months ago just in case this would happen" said a sudden familiar voice coming from the doorway.

Scully and Bailes turn suddenly to see Mulder standing at the doorway with a carrying bag over his shoulder and a cup of coffee in one hand.

Scully was still irritated with Mulder, but in the years they've been partnered together she always kept a professional demeanor in front of others. And given the seriousness of the situation at hand, she could do no less.

"Agent Bailes" she says, "meet Special Agent Fox Mulder."

Agent Mulder moves closer to Agent Bailes to shake his hand. "My apologies for the sudden intrusion on your case Agent Bailes, however we must move quickly otherwise we'll lose our suspect. Have you put out a APB out yet? "

Agent Bales stared at Mulder with a confused look. "We don't even have a description of the suspect to put out an APB." he said.

"Female, approximately 17 years old, natural red hair, possibly a runaway so check with missing persons, may have gone to school not far from here so see if any students matching that description are missing, last seen in this vicinity, approach with extreme caution. " Said Mulder with a serious tone.

Scully stared at Mulder for a moment in amazement that he was fully aware of everything that was going on, which felt odd to her since Mulder usually fills her in on everything within a case.

"How did you get this information already?" asked Bailes.

Mulder simply replied "I could take the time to explain the details to you Agent Bailes, but unfortunately time is what we're loosing. The more we talk about this the further away our suspect gets. This girl has killed four men before this and she's already looking for her next victim. I will fill you in on all the details soon, but for now we need an APB out immediately. At the same time I need you to do a background check Mr. Carson, who he married, where he worked, went to school, any associates, whatever you can find."

Still not understanding, Bailes simply nods his head. "All right" he says as he leaves the room. Mulder turns to Scully, who's just staring at her partner with a look that he knows all too well.

"So Scully, how was the forensics conference?" he ask her with a small grin. "I hear they leave plenty of clues at the after parties."

Scully knows that was his way of apologizing, but she wasn't going to let it show she was amused. "First, I'm going to take this since I need it more then you" she said as she took the coffee from his hand. "Second, I was suppose to be on a flight back to D.C. after a long weekend. Skinner even gave me an extra day off. So my question is why am I not getting on a plane home when our local branch can handle this?"

"I'm sorry for not keeping you in the loop" he said, "but this happen suddenly. In fact I was hoping it wouldn't happen again. Phillip Carson makes this the fifth murder, and if I'm right, we won't have much time till the next one."

"Well if this is an ongoing investigation, why wasn't I told about it?" she asked.

"This investigation started long before you and I partnered up" he said. "and it went cold years ago. But I knew it was only a matter of time before the case wound reopen."

Scully's expression changed from bothered to curious. "So you sent out a memo two months ago just in case someone was killed that had a certain tattoo on their right arm?" Asked Scully.

"Actually" said Mulder, "it's a birthmark... in the shape of a Crescent Moon".


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As both Mulder and Scully move into the living room of Mr. Carson's home, he pulled out a Polaroid and handed it to Scully, taken of what looked like a mans right arm with a Crescent moon looking birthmark just below the shoulder.

"That's the right arm of the late Phillip Carson, the coroner here took a Polaroid and had the officers bring it to me when I got here." said Mulder.

"But how would you know to look for a birthmark on the victim?" she asked. "And how does this connect to the other four murders?"

Mulder was opening his bag and pulled out one of his infamous X-files, from which he pulled out some pictures. "We have here photos from the other crime scenes. All of the victims were male, multiple stab wounds throughout the upper body. All four lived somewhere within Southern California... And all four, by all accounts, were reportedly murdered a 17 year old female with long red hair."

Scully studies the photos of the crime scenes, seeing similarities to what was in the bedroom. The only exceptions were that some men in the photos were of various ages. "Mulder, these were all grown men, how could a teenage girl cause so much damage" she asked.

"Hopefully we can ask her that if we catch her this time" he said. "But more importantly I'd like to know how she committed these murders before she was born."

"What!" exclaimed Scully as she looked up, not sure at first if she heard correctly.

"These first sets of photos were taken in February 1961" said Mulder as he handed Scully some photos. "Twin brothers Jacob and Adam Connors from Torrance, California. Both 17 years old, both nice going young man, good family, hardly ever a bad words spoken about either one of them. The thing about this was that Jacob and Adam were both killed by Jacob's 17-year-old girlfriend named Angela Summers, who happened to be a red head." Mulder handed Scully a old black & white photo of a young girl. "One day, just days after her 17th birthday, it was said that Summers 'snapped' all of a sudden and viciously stabbed Jacob and then minutes later did the same to Adam, both at their school. Before she could be was captured, she was chased atop her high school gymnasium where it was said she yelled out-load "I'll get them next time!", she then jumped to her death. No one knew what she meant or what cause her to snap as she did, or for that matter why she jumped."

"These other sets of pictures were taken in March of 1978" said Mulder."Eric Hart and Doug Wessling, both 34 years old Wessling lived in Redlands, Hart lived in Ontario, both not far from here. Reports say that both men were murdered by Rebecca Danes, a 17 year old red-head, a runaway from Big Bear." He then hands over another old, rough color photo... also of a young girl. "Now there was no explanation why she killed these men, there wasn't any connection that could be found between her and them. She was killed by a nervous officer who found her stabbing Hart repeatedly. By then Hart was dead, but her last dying words to the officer were "next time". No explanation of what she said or why she said it."

"Now," continued Mulder, "there are too many coincidences that don't seem to add up. The one thing that these four men and Angela Summers had in common was that they all went to the same school in 1961, Torrance High School."

"Classmates?" asked Scully. "So they all knew each other?"

"And all were 17 and in their Junior year" said Mulder "And had the Connor Brothers and Summers lived they all would have graduated in '62 with Hart and Wessling. And after the police confirms it, I'm sure Mr. Carson went to the same school."

Scully was taking in all that Mulder was saying, but questions were bothering her. "Well all this is intriguing, but this still leaves out how it's connected to the murder of Phillip Carson." she said.

"Take a look at the murder scene photos, then look at all four mens right arm, then back at Mr. Carson's arm. Tell me what you see." said Mulder.

As Scully looked over the photos, her eyes opened wide with astonishment. "Wait...Mulder, this is impossible" she said. As Scully begins shoveling through the photos, she's taken back by what she sees. In each photo of a murder victim, on each of their right arms, there is a birthmark in the shape of a crescent moon just below the shoulder. She then glanced up at Mulder with a surprised look on her face. "This can't be right " she says "these birthmarks... they're almost identical."

"Now there were no autopsy photos for Angela Summers back in the day" said Mulder, "yet the corner did make reference to something in his report, the same thing that these photos show of Rebecca Danes's autopsy photo. Once you read through it, you'll see "

Scully began reading the old autopsy report that Mulder handed her. "...preliminary examination of the subject shows massive trauma due to fall from extreme height... Blood work shows no indication of drug use... External examination shows no identifying tattoos on body with exception of crescent...". Scully paused for a moment, surprised again by what she was reading, "...crescent shaped birthmark just above the subject's left breast." She then glances over at the photo of Rebecca Danes where she sees the same birthmark in the same place."

Scully was silent for the moment, her thoughts on what she just read . As a scientist, her belief that everything has a explanation is never without some flexibility that she may not have all the facts at the moment. But in this case, an identically-shaped pigment discoloration on all these victims can't be ignored.

"Now don't you find it strange that seven different people, one of them decades later, would have the exact same matching birthmark?" asked Mulder. "And I have reason to believe that the murderer of Phillip Carson has that same birthmark."

Scully has always giving Mulder his moment to explain his theory, but as intriguing as this was, this didn't explain the events from last night. A man was dead because of a vicious attack, with no obvious reasons as to why. The lack of scientific proof in any case was enough to bring to light any number of possible, reasonable explanations.

"Mulder, as much as all this is a incredible coincidence, this doesn't show the reason this teenager attacked this man, if it really is a teenager. Since both the women in these past murders are dead, it's pretty clear this murder was done by a copycat... Or possibly that Phillip Carson picked up a young woman and A: became physically rough with her and she fought back the only way she could, or B: the girl was emotionally unstable and flew into a rage, then took it out on Mr. Carson."

Mulder would never nay say Scully when she's using logic, actually he's always respected her reasoning. It also serves to remind him that there are always simpler explanations to events around them that even he has to acknowledge.

"Point taken," says Mulder," but if this was a rage murder, what caused the rage?"

"Like you said," said Scully, "we'll just have to ask her when we catch her. But if your right, and this young woman is looking for her next victim, then she's already one step ahead of us. So we need to figure out who she's looking for."

"Which is why I've instructed Agent Bailes to look into Mr. Carson's background." said Mulder. "I believe if we find out more about him, we'll find some clue as to who she's after next."

Scully raised a eyebrow, then slowly began looking around the living room. "Well," she said, "there isn't much here to begin with. Not enough furniture to fill the house. The only thing that stands out is his collection."

"That's the other thing," said Mulder as he began to move about the living room, "more of a curiosity really. I can't speak for the Connor twins, but from what I read about the other two victims, they had the same kind of Civil War collection." He walked over to the shelves to inspect the collection more closely. "From what I could tell, these items are old or rare, like they could be over One Hundred years old... A pistol, some medals, a sword, even a old pair of shoes, plus other pieces. These aren't trinkets or shady collectors plates, these could be the real thing from way back when".

Scully lowered her eyes for a moment to analyze what she learned, but quickly raised them again. "Well, if they all knew each other, it stands to reason they all shared the same hobby" she said as Mulder continued to look over the collection, almost as if he didn't hear her, but she knew him better. His behavior was such when he was formulating a theory.

"Mulder" she asked, "what's your take on all this?"

"I'd rather not jump to my own conclusions until we get more information", said Mulder as he turned towards Scully. Even he didn't want to speculate until then.

"Agents?", said Agent Bailes as he stepped inside, Mulder and Scully turning towards him. "Looks like news travels fast around here. Police just spoke to a waitress from an all-night diner, she heard the gossip about the murder. She says that Mr. Carson was at the diner last night having dinner when he was approached by a teenage girl. Next thing she knew, they were walking out together sometime after 10:30 last night. Unfortunately she couldn't give a description of the girl, other then to say that she had long Red hair."

Scully turned to look at Mulder, who had a look on his face as if they were on the right track. "I think we need to find out all we can about Phillip Carson" he said.

-  
8:24AM

The sun had been up for a while when a bus driver arrives at his next stop with only one person waiting. When he opens the doors, he sees a beautiful teenage girl with red hair wearing shorts, a tang top and a gray unzipped hooded sweater with a backpack over her shoulder. As she boards, she gives a smile to the driver. "How far do you go?" she asks. The driver smiles back, "All the way to Long Beach, that'll be two dollars" he says.

"Great" she says with a nice smile. She pays her fare and walks to the back of a barely filled bus and sits down. When looking outside the window, she sees a police car drive by, but she doesn't seem to care about it. Very casually, she pulls the hood over her head, then reaches into her backpack to pull out a notebook. She then opens to a page with a list of names and places, some of them crossed off. As she goes down the list, she sees the name "Phillip Carson - Santa Ana", then her mind began to wonder, almost like a daydream.

"... A beautiful sunset... Mother, Father, brother... my birthday... sudden intrusion... men in uniforms yelling... Soldiers? What do they want?... Father and Mother dying... Where's brother?... Our home is on fire, my brother is in there... men laughing... they're hurting me... please stop... a branding iron in the fire... looks like a... PLEASE NO!"...

She lets out a loud gasp that woke her, then she felt a tear is rolling down her cheek. As she looks around, she notices the bus hasn't even moved yet. She wipes her tear then reaches under her tang top strap and begins to lightly scratch her birthmark.

With a look of anger on her face, she then uses a pen to cross out Phillip Carson's name from her list. The next name on the list gets her attention... "Justin Lake - Long Beach"


End file.
